For Faculty Members

Requests and Orders

Note:This is to be completed each semester. If you are using the same books as previous semesters, or do not require books, please note this as well. Please also include if you would like to use iClickers in your class.

Why do you need to submit these forms?

In order to comply with the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) bookstores need to post textbook information prior to students registering for classes or as soon as it becomes available. We need help from faculty to provide accurate information. Providing the information also allows us to get the best price we can for books as well as order additional copies to meet enrollment needs. Below are two links for more information regarding HEOA.

The Faculty Center Network is a comprehensive database which you may use to review college level textbooks. Please click on the picture above to review textbooks available in your discipline.

Faculty Policies

Ordering Textbooks

Regular Orders

New textbooks for undergraduate students are ordered through Textbook Services on the Textbook Services website. Please place orders as far as possible in advance of the time the material is needed. Due dates are posted on the top of each form and on the Faculty section of our website. Carbonless forms are available in Textbook Services or from the department's Program Assistant if desired.

Textbooks for graduate students should be ordered through the Falcon Shop in the University Center. Textbook Services will rent texts to graduate students who are taking undergraduate and/or "slash" courses if all undergraduate requirements for the text have been met, and if the text is not available in the Falcon Shop. Textbook Services must have authorization from the instructor involved before texts may be rented by graduate students. Please contact Textbook Services to establish that there are enough copies to allow rental to graduate students.

Under the rental system, a text is expected to be used for a minimum of two years once it has been adopted. Requests for early replacement will be given special consideration when they involve subject areas where information changes rapidly, or classes which will be taught by new faculty members.

By paying a textbook rental fee, each undergraduate student is entitled to the primary text for each course. Supplemental texts will also be provided to the maximum extent possible, with special emphasis given to courses taught in "book intensive" areas, and in courses where source material is used. Depending on the needs of the instructor and the course, texts may also be ordered for Reserve reading (through the Reserve Desk, Library) at the recommended ratio of one copy for every 12 students, or ordered for students to purchase in the Falcon Shop.

Please exercise care in the selection of textbooks, as student money is the sole source of funding for textbook purchases. Faculty are encouraged to purchase a new edition of a text only when there has been a significant improvement in presentation, content or pedagogy, when compared to the older edition that they are planning to replace. Many times there is little or no change.

This does not mean that texts should be used until they are falling apart; the physical condition of the current text would continue to be a factor in the decision regarding its replacement.

Textbook staff continue to emphasize that faculty are the only judges of material that is needed for their classes.

While many of these added features are valuable, they must be evaluated by faculty carefully, as they are not free, though often promoted as such, and almost always add to the cost of the textbook that they are bundled with.

Faculty should also be aware that publishers, in order to increase their sales by limiting the sale of their textbooks on the used textbook market, will often bundle texts with study guides, lab manuals, CDs, DVDs, and custom D2L sites.

Exceptions to Textbook Services' purchasing policy may be requested (in writing) through the Textbook Services manager. Approval is contingent on cost, availability of funds, justification, etc. Denial of exception by the Textbook Services manager may be appealed to the Library Director. The Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is the final authority on such requests.

Textbook Issue

Textbook Requests

Once each semester the Textbook Services manager will send an e-mail to each teaching faculty member. This will include a link to the Textbook Services Book Request form. If the professor does not require any texts to be issued, this should be indicated.

The form is not a textbook order, but concern existing texts which are already in stock that the professor wishes to be issued to students.

Please fill out the form and submit it to Textbook Services promptly, as the efficiency and accuracy of the textbook issue is dependent on this source.

If a new textbook is requested to be ordered, use the Textbook Services Book Order form. Please be sure to obtain permission from your department chair before submitting this form.

Textbook Shortages

If you are aware of a possible textbook shortage, please notify Textbook Services as soon as possible to allow time to acquire additional copies. Please coordinate with Textbook Services when adding students above the enrollment cap for your class.

When textbook shortages develop, professors may request that Textbook Services place one copy of the text on Reserve, at the Reserve Desk in the Library, for use by students until additional copies of the text arrive.

Customized Class Materials

Requests For Customized Class Material or Course Packets

Requests for production of customized course packets for class use should be prepared and submitted to Textbook Services on Textbook Services Form 2 (obtained from Textbook Services).

If copyright clearances are involved, and since material cannot legally be distributed until copyright clearances are received, please send orders for customized packets to Textbook Services well in advance of the date that the material will be needed for distribution. Please keep in mind that the larger the number of copyrighted items in the packet, the longer it will take to contact and get clearances from each of the copyright holders. About three months should be sufficient for most material, though the time needed can vary greatly.

In general, smaller packets of one to twenty-five pages should not be ordered through Textbook Services. Smaller packets should continue to be distributed as class handouts by the professor or the department.

Preparing Packets & Getting Copyright Clearances

The professor must provide a good quality, legible copy of each item to be included in the course pack.

Textbook Services, using information provided by the professor, will contact the copyright holder(s) and request permission to use the material. Textbook Services will pay all copyright clearance fees (within reason), and all copying costs.

Once all copyright clearances have been obtained, the material is sent to Fast Copy. After it is copied, it will be returned to Textbook Services and bound for distribution.

Checking Out Textbooks & Obtaining Desk Copies from Publishers

Obtaining Desk Copies from Publishers

Requests for desk copies should be sent or phoned to the publisher.

Most publishers accept phone requests for desk copies and have toll free numbers to be used for this purpose. Textbook Services may be able to help in providing publishers' addresses and phone numbers.

Checking Out Textbooks to Faculty & Staff

Faculty and staff members may check out textbooks for classes they are teaching if desk copies are not available from the publisher, or for use until their desk copies arrive.

A legal form of photo ID is required to check out texts.

As the texts were purchased with student funds, texts checked out may not be considered complimentary copies and they must be returned as soon as a desk copy can be obtained from the publisher.

When desk copies are not available, faculty and staff members may check out and use texts for classes they are teaching. They may keep them for as long as the texts are needed to teach the class.

If a student is without a copy of a text, the professor may be asked to return his/her copy.

Beginning four weeks after the first day of classes each semester, faculty and staff members may check out texts for reference.

Check out for reference is subject to availability. If all copies of the text have been checked out to students enrolled in the class, no additional copies will be ordered.

Textbooks checked out for reference are due before the class in which the textbooks are used is taught again.

Faculty and staff are not charged fines for overdue materials; however, they must pay for damaged or lost texts.

The Textbook Services manager may deny or limit circulation of textbooks to faculty and staff who have long term overdue and/or unpaid financial obligations.

Textbook Holdings & Inventory Control

Textbook Holdings

Textbook Services maintains an online listing of all textbook holdings.

If more information is needed, we welcome questions about our holdings at any time.

Inventory Control

When a textbook is to be discontinued or replaced, please notify the Textbook Services manager as soon as possible, as this can save substantial amounts of money.

Once each year faculty and staff members are asked to review textbooks owned by Textbook Services for use in their department and classes.

The objective of this review is to identify titles that are obsolete, have not been used in some time, where the number of copies in stock is substantially greater than the enrollment for the class, and those that will be replaced before the class is taught again.

Faculty/staff cooperation in identifying titles in these categories is very much appreciated.

Note to New Faculty Members

Renting vs Buying

Textbook rental may be a new concept to new faculty members who may have taught in universities where students purchase their texts.

Renting texts saves students a significant amount of money each semester, while still offering them the option to purchase their texts.

Building a Professional Library Under the Rental System

We offer the students the option to buy current texts during our book sale each semester. We also offer discontinued texts at a minimal cost year round. This enables students to select titles they think will be of use to them in the future and to build a professional library at a very reasonable cost.

Please do not hesitate to recommend to your students any texts you think they should purchase. We hope this website has answered some of your questions, but please feel free to stop in or phone if you have questions about the rental system.